More than 40 black residents unhappy about what they call unfair treatment by the police came to City Hall Wednesday night to demand a town hall meeting.

And they got their wish.

Hallandale Beach officials promised to host a community forum in the next month to help foster better relations.

But it was not without controversy.

One man ridiculed Mayor Joy Cooper’s request that protestors not clap but instead flap their hands in the air.

“We’re not retarded,” the man said to applause from the crowd.

The protesters came with signs but were asked to leave them outside commission chambers. So they left them stacked on two benches outside.

In 2015, after several black residents in Hallandale Beach claimed they weren’t given a fair shake when stopped by police, the city held a series of town hall meetings.

One town hall meeting would not be enough to dispel a community’s distrust of police -- but it's a good start, city officials said at the time.

UPDATE: On Friday, Cooper contacted us to say Commissioners Keith London and Michele Lazarow were behind the “no clapping” rule.

When people started clapping, Cooper says Lazarow and London reminded her about the new rule. Their microphones were off, so it looked like she was the bad guy, but she was just the messenger, she said.

“The cheering and yelling only exacerbates the situation,” Lazarow said in explaining the new rules. “It was a policy we all voted on [after the November election]. You can’t yell or clap or cheer. We were modeling it after the county commission.”